When Toyota gave the iQ, their tiny new four-seater, the tagline "nimble as a mouse," they were probably referring to the cheese-loving rodent. But just to cover all the bases, they turned one into a giant, functioning computer mouse, too.

Toyota's determination to make this pun happen required the programming of special software to turn the car's movements, tracked from above with a camera, into those of a cursor on the giant screen. The agency behind the ad explains:

The feat required a large indoor space, a web cam, two laptops, an LED for the car, and a projection screen.

The camera tracked the light on the car and translated its position into X-Y co-ordinates. The first laptop sent these co-ordinates to the second laptop 30 times per second. The second laptop read these co-ordinates and moved its mouse cursor in real-time. That image was then projected onto the large screen.

As if just getting the system working wasn't enough, the car goes on to design itself a nice print ad. Very clever, but I'll bet backseat cursors get annoying pretty quick. "No, no, that won't work, you have to search 'stomping grape lady!'" [Ad News]